Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee. The thermometer on our porch read 10 degrees this morning. My truck reported 9 degrees. The truck would not lie. It is 9 degrees right now. Imagine how cold it is in the upper elevations of Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

Traffic was almost non-existent on the morning commute. I don’t blame them. If I could have stayed home today I would be there. Early yesterday morning we got some snow and later we had a complete white-out. But, believe it or not all 8 students showed up for the beginner fly tying class. One guy came from Nashville, several from Kingsport and a couple of people from Knoxville. Those people wanted to learn to tie. They were motivated and did not want to miss their chance. My hat is off to them.

We had a heck of a day at the shop too. It was unbelievable. Cabin fever is showing it’s face. Business was as good as it could be during the winter. I saw armfuls of tying materials headed home with many of those fine folks. Thank you for getting out and being here.

Joe McGroom went fishing yesterday. He said he did pretty well. I didn’t ask any specific questions. I usually don’t quiz my friends for details. I figure, if they want me to know they will tell me. Most of them won’t get specific unless a trout is 18” or larger. Jack usually does not mention size unless the brown is over 20”. They will report a rainbow over 12”. A 12” to 14” rainbow is something to talk about. Rainbows don’t live long here. Browns do.

Fishing will be slow today. The sun is shining and the water is cold. I did not stop at the river this morning to take the temperature. I wanted to get here early. But I guarantee you the water is cold.

We have the possibility for some really nasty weather starting tonight. The weather service is saying we could get 3 to 5 inches of snow with sleet tomorrow afternoon. I’m not looking forward to that.

Governor elect Bill Haslam has named the new Tennessee Commissioner of Transportation. He is John Schroer who currently serves as Mayor of Franklin, Tennessee. I guess I’ll get to meet him at some point. We have in our town an unprecedented problem that involves TDOT. This problem is huge. I’m working on it with two people at the Department and one of them is the Deputy Commissioner. The other is our Regional Director. They are both good guys and they have been great to work with. I told our State Senator in an e-mail last week how good I think these guys are. He agreed.

A local citizen and former Mayor of Townsend asked me yesterday about our new Governor and what he thinks about our right-of-way problem here. I have never discussed this with the Governor elect. I don’t know him that well. Some people around here think we are friends.

We did hold a “meet and greet” for him at our store when he was running for Governor. That was a lot of fun. I have been in one other meeting with him. I like Bill a lot and his family too. I voted for Bill. But, I can’t just call the Governor elect and chat about our woes here. The person I talked to yesterday morning seemed surprised.

Well, get ready for the big storm. I hope it doesn’t happen. Right now the sky is clear and the mountains are white and beautiful.

Our fly tying classes will be held in January and February. To sign up just call the shop at 877-448-3474. You can read more on our website in the Schools Section. The fly tying class schedule follows: